1 Down — Sports Divorce of the Year: Tiger Woods from caddie Stevie Williams. Sad, really. Woods fires Williams, who had been on his bag for most of the glorious career. Williams hooks up with Adam Scott, who last week wins the Bridgestone Invite, Tiger’s first tournament back in action after another layoff. Then Stevie calls the victory “the greatest week of my life” — greater than any of the weeks he was on Woods’ bag for the Tiger Slam or the countless other dominating wins. While Woods this week tried to take a more mature approach, he was so agitated Sunday after the Bridgestone that he got up from his presser muttering about the assembled reporters: “That’s why you listen and I play.” Classy.

2 Up — Cautiously optimistic about the NCAA retreat this week, called by president Mark Emmert. The assembled presidents appear in the mood to overhaul a grossly obese rule book. They also seem in a mood to push the NCAA enforcement division to start dropping harsher penalties on offenders, such as banning them from TV appearances and postseason play. The NCAA hasn’t banned a Division I program from television in 15 years. Emmert wants to fast-track the overhaul. It will be interesting to see if they have the guts to really do this right — or if the effort turns into a worthless debacle like we saw in Washington, D.C. last week.

2 Down — Time for the Bears and Chicago to invest in new turf. The Bears had to cancel their scheduled public workout at Soldier Field last week because new sod had been insufficiently watered. Lame.

Author: Kirk Wessler

Kirk Wessler is executive sports editor/columnist and has worked at the Journal Star since 1987. A graduate of Bradley University, he previously worked at the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune and Dallas Times-Herald. Wessler's work has won numerous awards from Associated Press Sports Editors, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Illinois Press Association and Illinois Associated Press. He is former president of the USBWA. Follow him on Twitter @KirkWessler.
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